Prioritization, Rooster Heads & General Conference

Hello World!

Well like last week, this was another pretty stressful week for me, but I think I managed to get a hold of things here! It just took me a while to get used to not having Elder Earl (the previous Financial Secretary) around to help order me around. I have really been developing my skills in prioritizing. The sad truth with my job is that there simply is not enough time to do all of the things that need to be done, so we do some serious prioritizing and we have to let some tasks be forgotten about and never resolved. But that´s okay.

So from the pictures you sent me it looks like Jesse is totally in style according to the style of the El Salvador young people. I would say that more that 50% of the young men here have those faux-hawk things that Jesse is currently sporting! Jesse would fit right in here! Here they call that kind of hair a rooster head, its funny!

So conference went great for us here. In the stake center in Cuscatlán we watched it, we had a set apart room to watch it in English for all those who were interested in that! That´s so cool that you all had the chance to be there, who would have known that an African guy would be in my seat at conference! After the Priesthood session of conference we were invited to eat dinner at President´s house with all the other office missionaries. Here I will attach a picture, somehow I always end up in the back of all the group pictures, whatever. We had a nice dinner. In his house he always gets imported meats and shops at Price Mart, the Costco equivalent, so the food is always super good!

 So tomorrow we have a baptism planned for Elmer, he is such a great young guy. Although he is one of the rooster heads he is planning on going on a mission ASAP, so far he seems that he will be one of my stronger converts in the mission. Honestly I haven´t had the best of luck in terms of my baptismal numbers, but I don´t let that get to me! The fact that I am now in the office means that it will be even harder to baptize since time is so short for us. Its funny because I always joke that I was called to El Salvador not to baptize, just to do the church´s finances! :) But yeah, now were doing finances and baptizing! So I am content!

I am so excited for today, we are going to go do some cool stuffs. We are going to eat lunch at the supposedly best pupuseria in the world, so we will see. And after that we will go to "La Puerta del Diablo", that should be cool. I will have to send you some pictures next week!

So that´s about all that I have to report for now. Sounds to me like everyone had a great week, I did too! I hope that you all have a great week.

Love, Elder Vaughan

Bills, Contracts & Fry Pan Wake Up Call

Hello world once again!

So this past week has been the most stressful week of my mission so far! Mainly because it was changes week and us as the office missionaries, it is our responsibility to make sure everything is ready for the changes. That includes in finding the houses in the new areas we are opening, and I have to make the contracts and make all the arrangements for signing the contracts and making security deposit checks. Also we have to buy and deliver all of the things (beds, chairs, tables, fridges, etc.) to the new areas. And on top of that we are missionaries.

So I did have changes this week, I am not with Elder Glenn and Elder Earl anymore. Now I am training another elder to be a financial secretary which is crazy. Elder Glenn was going to be the other, but I guess he just wasn't a good fit for being in the office so now I have to train another guy and I haven't even had much time to get stuff learned. Yesterday was the most stressful day of my mission because everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. People in this world are just so impatient. I am responsible for making the payments to the companies that make the beds tables and chairs. And we owe them 960 dollars for an order made in February (before I got here), so yesterday they called and were yelling and whining because they didn't have their money. Then on top of that I had the mission doctor calling me because she never got paid from the last change (because Elder Earl didn't get it done beforehand), she was wanting 920 dollars. So just dealing with all these people and trying to make everyone happy is very stressful.

I am going to attach a document that is one of the contracts that one of the house owners made (I usually make them, but he wanted to make his own) and understanding all that legal language has been such a challenge in Spanish. So here I attached the document in English and in Spanish. It is just such an ugly made document (people aren't well educated in computers here). I also am going to attach one that I made (more beautiful). It is pretty cool! And there are a ton of contacts that I have to keep track of, there are about 210 missionaries in this mission (it changes every week) so you do the math, there are a ton of contracts to keep track of and monitor.

So this crazy week has left me with almost no time for working in our area as missionaries. One of the other perks of being an office missionary is that our house is the mission hotel. it is a fairly big house so we always have the missionaries who are just arriving to the mission and those who are soon to leave sleep there, yes all of them. The other day the brilliant idea came to me that I could have fun when waking them up! Many of them have to wake up in the early morning to catch flights. So I decided to do something I learned from Dad, that is.. hit a fry pan with a wooden spoon as hard as I can. It is hilarious! I decided I would have one of the other Elders record it on camera, the reactions are pretty funny to me!

Well that is pretty much my week! Crazy, stressful, but rewarding! I hope that you all have a great conference weekend in Utah! Conference is great for us missionaries because it is a form of rest from all of our duties! I love you and have a great week!

Love, Elder Joshua Vaughan

Changes, Tower Climb & Old Cash

Sorry for not sending a legit full email for the blog, I am almost out of time. This week was cool, this coming week is changes, so Elder Earl who is training me to be the financial secretary will be leaving. So yeah. Here is a picture from when I was in San Vicente, we climbed the tower as a half zone on my last P-Day there. It was fun.

Also I managed to get my hands on some old Slavadoreño cash. They are called Colones (Cristobál Colón) The Colónes were put out of use in 2002 when they made the official change to the US dollar. Enjoy! We will talk more next week!

Cars, Long Bus Rides & Fat is Good

Hello World,

So yet again, another week has passed by here in the office, it really is crazy how fast the time is passing by here, I know I said that before I got to the office, but now that we are twice as busy as before time just flies.

So almost everyone who wrote me this week asked me if I know what mission I will be going to, the answer is... I haven't the slightest clue! President Glazier really  is a goofball and likes to surprise people. I think my preference would be the "new" mission which will be called the San Salvador West Mission. In the West one we will be getting a new mission prez and Belize will be included in our mission. That would be a cool opportunity to go to Belize, but we will see. I really see a ton of benefits of being in whatever mission. I do know that I will be working in the office for a long time, Elder Earl (my comp who is training me now) has been here for longer than I have been in the mission. So we will see. The offices of the east and west missions will both be in the capital, so in terms of my area of proselyting I will be in the same general location.

My preference is to go to the West mission, because there is a possibility that I will get a car! From what I know, it is standard that the financial secretaries have cars, but President's wife doesn't want us to have a car, why? Because she is using the car that technically would be in my use. So If I go to the West mission it is possible that I will get a car, which would be so nice, we spend about two hours in buses every day. When we make the trip from our area to the office in bus, its an hour, in a car or taxi its only 6 minutes. Its crazy.

So yesterday I really noticed that there are some serious cultural differences here in this country (DUH). Yesterday we were at a member's home teaching another family, and someone said to the father "Wow, your daughter (5 yrs) is pretty fat!", then the dad said, "I know, isn't she so beautiful?", then the man said "If only my kids were like that, I would be so happy!"  That conversation blew my mind!!!!!!!!!!! After all this time I have learned that being fat is a cool thing here!!. Anyways, just an interesting culture difference I noticed. Elder Glenn (my comp) and I were really laughing about that one!

I feel like dad just started being the bishop there in the singles branch (ward). That's so crazy that his time there is already at an end. It's too bad that I won't be able to see him as bishop when I come back. But no worries, I know that he will have some great future callings! 

Well that's all I have to say this week! I hope that everything goes great for you at home! Have a great week.

Love Elder Vaughan

Living on the Edge of a Volcano, President's Birthday & Chinese Food

Hello World!

So another week has passed by yet again, the weeks just don´t stop flying! I feel like I only have a couple weeks left to finish learning all of the stuff that I have to do here in the office. Here I attached some photos from last week. One is with Elder Cifuentes who was in the hospital with some kidney issues. He will be the new records secretary here, but not to worry he is back on his feet and working now!

In the other picture we went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch on President Glazier´s birthday. The two elders that are right by president at the table are my two comps, it's actually pretty cool being in a trio here. We always get to go on divisions with the youth getting ready for the mission and we get a ton of stuff done! Anyways, that was by far the best meal I have had since Ruth's Chris Steak House before the mission, not better than RC steaks, but pretty darn good. Speaking of Ruth's Chris steaks there is one here in El Salvador, although I know we will never get to go there, it's cool knowing that there are people who like to eat good food here. This place where the office is, is actually  the rich part of the country and there are so many people driving around in BMW's and all types of sweet cars here. We just go around in a 1980 Toyota taxi, or a bus.

In the other picture we are in the office about to eat some cake with president. Behind the president you can see the remote control for the air conditioning, I love that part of the office. In San Vicente nobody had air conditioning, and it was always a whole lot hotter there as well.

We also have one of the best houses in the mission, there are 2 others that are better than ours. We have a full stove with oven (not just a tiny two burner plug-in stove), a brand new washing machine(we still dry the clothes on a clothes line), a microwave and air conditioning in the bedrooms and the best of all is the hot water in the shower! The hot water here is heated by electricity, you will never see that in the USA because of obvious safety hazards. I have already shocked myself a few times in the shower because the wires are on the shower head and that is where the switch is to turn on the heated water, its weird but funny when I shock myself.

Anyways... this week was just a bunch of work. This week I have been mainly working on making house contracts and calling all the owners and bugging them to get it signed and to us. The work in the area is great. The area in which we work is in San Salvador - Mejicanos - San Ramón, its really odd how cities (municipios) are laid out here. We really live in those three cities at the same time. I don´t understand! But the area is on the north side of San Salvador, pretty much at the edge of the capital by the volcano! Its pretty cool. Next week we are planning on having a baptism of a young man named Elmer, so lets hope that everything comes out okay!

Love Elder Vaughan

Eating Healthy, Hospital for a Day and Stolen Car

Hello,

So this week was seriously one of the most crazy weeks of my mission. So much happens in a week here and the weeks are going by so fast, its just crazy. So lets start with the happy, that is, I ate some real Chinese food two days ago, it was amazing!! So you may or may not be concerned with my unhealthy diet here in the office, but the truth is... pizza hut, china wok and wendy´s is a whole lot healthier than the garbage we would eat every day in San Vicente. The problem with the food in the country is that everybody cooks with a TON of oil, it is just unhealthy. People here always get so sick all of the time just because their diet is terrible! But not to worry, I have recently started working out a little bit lately to try and counter the effects of unhealthy food!

So this is random, but there has been a change of rules here in the mission. That is, we are now allowed to write to our friends and whatever other non family member through email! So yeah, friends can write me through email now if they really want to!

So all  day yesterday I was in the hospital, all day. It was terrible. Ok, you are probably so freaked out right now, I am fine. The thing is another elder who works here in the office has some problems with his kidney, so I was his companion yesterday in the hospital all day long. Not going to lie, it was actually nice not doing anything all day long, I don´t do nothing very often! So this poor Elder Cifuentes has probably the worst luck and the worst day of his life on Wednesday. After being in the office he started feeling sick and started vomiting and all that lovely stuff. So they took a taxi to the house and rested a while. Later on at about 8 PM they decided he needed to go to the hospital since he was just getting worse. So our ward mission leader, Benji, an 18 year old guy came in his mom´s car to pick him up and take him to the hospital. Then they were waiting at a lonely stoplight, when all of the sudden two armed men robbed their car, so they were stuck without a car. and after walking a half hour back to benji´s house they finally took another car that belongs to his father, and finally went to the hospital. That poor elder had the worst of luck that day. But fortunately the police found the stolen car and he is being treated in the hospital as we speak. It was just crazy.

So as far as the new mission goes, we do not know which mission we will be in, and I personally would like to be in the West mission, which is really the central mission here in the capital. If I am in that mission I will be having a new mission president and the possibility of serving in Belize. That would be so cool to serve in Belize!! That´s really the main reason I would love to be in that mission! But, who knows, we will see soon enough. Today is President Glazier´s birthday, so in a couple hours he will be taking us (but I will pay since I´m the money guy here now!) to the best Chinese Restaurant in the whole country! I can´t wait! After that we will be going to a few possible locations in search of the potential new office for the other mission. So yep.

That´s about all I have got to say for now! This has been a crazy but good week. I hope that you all had a great week as well.

Love Elder Vaughan

So Much to Learn, So Much to Do & Speaking Financial Spanish

Hello World!

So this week has definitely been a great week for me! So much has been going on, its really crazy! Firstly, I have a TON of responsibilities as the financial secretary. But firstly, I am now in a trio companionship, let me explain why. Since there will be another mission we will be needing another financial sec, so now Elder Earl (my companion) is training me and Elder Glenn at the same time. So one of us will be in the East mission and the other of us will be in the West mission. So now we are in a trio, which I thought I would not enjoy, but I am actually loving it so much! I still don't know what mission I will be in, but I hear that Belize will be part of the West mission, I don´t know why. If I am going to be in the West mission it is very possible that I could go to Belize for part of my mission, that would be soooooooo awesome! But, we will see what happens in the future!

So like I said before, we hang out with the assistants on P-Day here because they are the only other missionaries that have P-Day on Friday  and now we are in the temple offices using the computers to write home, and there is a sweet view of the temple right outside. It is great. One advantage of being here is that we pass by the temple all the time, and it is just so nice to be able to see it, since I only saw it twice in my whole time in San Vicente.

So about my new job, I have a ton of responsibilities as the Financial Secretary. First off, I have a cell phone. That means that all the missionaries and all our vendors (who sell stuff to the mission) can contact me all day every day. So when I leave the office in the afternoon I am almost always taking phone calls on the buses or even when we are walking in the street. There are just so much things to do. The general tasks include: making house rental contracts, paying contracts and writing the security deposit checks, giving the missionaries their monthly money on their credit cards, paying all the phone-light-water bills for every house in the mission, and making purchases for whatever other expenses or needs there are in the mission. So far after one week I have learned a lot about these things, but Elder Earl tells me that there is so much more to learn. I really like having all of this stuff to do because I like the feeling of getting the stuff done.

So the food, I am no longer eating garbage for lunch every day. I am so happy about that. What we eat most of the time is delivery food that is local style foods or whatever, and when we feel like eating better than that we can call Pizza Hut, Papa John´s, Wendy´s, Subway and much more stuff. And it is all delivery which is interesting. All the food here people just put it on a motorcycle and deliver it to us. I know its not the healthiest food, but dang it is such a great change for once. I decided to start working out more in the mornings to avoid gaining too much weight!

Anyways, This has been a great experience so far. I am loving how I am so busy, time is flying so much faster. Most missionaries dread the thought of being an office missionary, but I love it. There is so much here to learn that will help me in the future, not to mention how much my Spanish skills will grow because I am learning how to talk office-financial Spanish. So, who knows how that will help me in my future!
Well that is about all that I have got to say for now! I am really enjoying this new assignment that I have here! I hope that you all have a great week.

Love,

Elder Joshua Vaughan